Chapter 7: The Lost Daughter

"Follow me," Griphook ordered without hostility. For a human, he would sound rather grouchy but considering that Griphook was a goblin he may as well have taken their hands and skipped along with them towards the cart. Hermione was vaguely unsettled by the unexpected level of friendliness he used.

Fortunately, Viktor had never really had an issue with the goblin carts or their 'one speed only' policy, though his poor Hermione looked a little green by the end of the ride. Viktor was too polite to complain in her defense to the goblins though, understanding that it would have been politically unwise without needing Hermione to nag at him first. It was nice for Hermione not to need to remind him to behave like she would have with ... like she would have needed to previously. The temperature was freezing and Hermione started shivering almost immediately, not being dressed for cold weather. Krum noticed instantly and responded by wrapping his coat around her. Yes, she was very happy with her current boyfriend. He was so much better than her last one that the comparison was almost unfair. Ron didn't even qualify.

Once they got down to the vault, Griphook stopped the cart and Hermione and Krum out.

"Place your hand upon the door, it must confirm your identity as an heir of the house of Black," he instructed. "Don't worry, it only needs magic, not blood."

The second she did, there was a rush of magic, expanding from where she touched the door like ripples on a pond. When she pulled away, her handprint glowed at her for a moment before fading away. The vault door clicked and swung open in an almost unobtrusive manner.

Hermione immediately started searching for the letter that her father had left her, sure it would be somewhere prominent. She wasn't looking long before she heard a shockingly familiar and heart tearing voice.

"How did you get in here? That should be impossible. What's your name?"

Hermione slowly turned around. Sirius looked younger than she had ever seen him, face unlined and eyes bright and lively with mischief. The painting must be from before Azkaban got ahold of him. "Sirius Black?" she asked. Of course she already knew it was him but… she hadn't expected this. She hadn't expected to get to talk to Sirius Black, her father.

"Hermione?" he recognized her, surprised. "Seriously, how did you get in the vault? Is Harry here too? Did he let you in? Harry's got Black blood so-"

"I- uh, no," Hermione faltered, for once in her life struggling to find the appropriate words. "I mean, yes, he's in the bank but no he didn't let me in. I got in by myself because-"

"Andromeda Evelyn," Sirius realized, eyes widening. He made an aborted gesture with his hand as though to reach out and touch her before puling back, remembering that he couldn't. "My little pup, Evie. Oh, how I'm sorry I didn't find you." His eyes were bright with unshed tears that looked ready to fall at any moment.

"How could you have known?" Hermione asked, rational mind rising up to defend him. "I was only two when you were imprisoned. I had no idea who you were to me until today. The man who raised me was the one I believed to be my father. I had no idea my mother changed her name and moved house and married a man who wasn't my father," Hermione explained.

"I'm sorry I didn't figure it out," Sirius moaned. "I would have stayed to protect you and your mother if I had. You have to know that I would've. But Harry was in danger and-"

"There's no way you could have known," Hermione repeated soothingly. "Even if you had found that my mom had moved, it would have been next to impossible for you to find us. She went through a ridiculous amount of trouble to keep me safe. I'm betting she even had plastic surgery to help hide her identity. Were you guys engaged?" Hermione ranted.

"Yes, we were supposed to marry a month after Halloween," Sirius responded grimly. "Originally I wanted to wait until the war ended but she wanted to set a date and… well, your mother didn't know I was a wizard and I couldn't explain. The Statue of Secrecy prevented me from telling her until we were married and it was even more important in a time of war. I wanted to tell her, I really did, but I couldn't let her be obliviated for finding out at the wrong time."

"She probably knew you had been framed, and vas probably afraid for her and Hermione's safety," Krum explained. "Vhy else would she go to such lengths to hide her identity and location."

"True that," Sirius agreed quickly.

Hermione looked confused, "Where did you learn that phrase? That's a muggle phrase."

"I spent almost four years hiding in the muggle world from Voldemort. That's how I met your mother. She was actually tutoring me for the A-Levels when we first met."

"Wait, wait, wait you took the A-Levels?" Hermione asked.

"Oh yeah and aced them too," Sirius said with a smug grin. Hermione had gotten her smarts from somewhere. Apparently it ran on both sides of her family.

"Guess Malfoy can eat his words now since I'm no muggleborn," Hermione said with an identical grin, "Wait me and Malfoy are cousins, ew, ew, ew. I don't want to be related to that ferret!"

"Could be worse, your mother could be Bellatrix," Sirius joked.

"Ew, ew, ew how could you even say that?" Hermione responded. "That's disgusting – oh no, she's my second cousin or something isn't she? This is horrible."

"I mention it because my parents seriously considered marrying me to her," Sirius explained, pulling a face. That had been… a stressful time for him. He'd gone on a pranking rampage back then and hadn't settled down until he'd been blasted off the Family Tree and all talk of marrying him off was given up on.

"Ugh that is not okay," Krum said. "I'm actually expected to marry a muggleborn or muggle. Their blood is more valued in Bulgaria. Vhile it's not exactly a hardship its certainly easier than vhat your parents proposed to do."

"Wait why are you expected to marry a muggleborn or muggle?" Hermione asked. This was something she missed about Viktor. She could ask him questions and he wouldn't get annoyed. They both enjoyed discovering the differences and similarities between their two home cultures and finding the reasons behind them. Even when they disagreed on occasion, they found a common ground in trying to find out why.

"Because it brings new blood into the families, and the only way to have a half-blood in Bulgaria is to marry a muggle," Krum explained. "If both of your parents are magical in Bulgaria, you are considered a purebloods."

"I wish Amelia Bones had had the chance to implement that here in Britain," Hermione sighed. "In Britain, all four of your grandparents had to have been magical in order for you to be considered a pureblood. And the farther back the magic goes the better."

"Well that's stupid," Krum dismissed bluntly, "The Family Magics will dilute over time unless you introduce new blood. Every Triwizard champion except for Cedric was a half-blood by Britain standard, since all four of his grandparents were magical, however, his grandmother was a muggleborn."

"That explains why the muggleborns and half-bloods are so much more powerful and why newer purebloods are so much more powerful than the old purebloods," his girlfriend realized. "It also explains a lot about why old pureblood families get so upset when members of their family marry muggleborns or muggles."

"Fucking racists," Viktor proclaimed, with Hermione looking at him in surprise. "Oops, did I say that out loud?" Viktor asked.

"Yes," Hermione said, "and it was kind of hot."

"Anyway," Sirius said awkwardly, not wanting to see his daughter flirting with anyone, "what do you wanna do? Blast my mother off the family tree, or curse Bellatrix? Or maybe which would you rather do first?" he grinned mischievously. "You know you want to!"

"I think I'll get Harry to instate Tonks into the Black family," Hermione decided, raising an eyebrow in challenge.

"Oh, even better," Sirius commended. "That'll piss Cissy and Bella off. I don't know why Cissy hasn't left that bastard yet."

"Vait, why didn't you nullify the contract as head of the house of Black if you hate him so much?" Viktor asked. "You had the ability since it was an arranged marriage, right?"

"Oh I did," Sirius agreed. "But because I was an escaped fugitive and doing so would have drawn attention to Cissy. She wouldn't have been safe without the protection being married to Malfoy affords her."

"I understand," Hermione assured him. "You did the best you could."

"There aren't any nasty surprises in Belatrix's vault, are there?" Krum asked as the idea suddenly occurred to him. "Harry and Susan are already heading down."

"Normally, if it was just Bella, I'd say yes," Sirius explained, "But because of her dumbass husband and brother in law, if there was anything even mildly complicated he'd die in their own trap, so I'm going to go with no. They'll be fine. Harry got through to the Sorcerer's Stone, so this will be nothing."

"You do realize that your portrait is coming with us, right?" Hermione asked. "I'm not leaving you here. I've got so many questions that…" she trialed off hopefully.

Sirius's eyes smiled just as brightly as the rest of his face and it took years off his already younger appearance. For a moment, she could see the reckless teenager he had once been. "I would be delighted to answer them, Pup."

"I hate to break up the moment, but Harry and Susan need us in the Lestrange Vaults and ve are acting under a time limit," Viktor reminded them. "Ve should be going."

"Right. Horcruxes and the fate of the world," Hermione remembered exasperatedly. "How could I ever forget?"